


Life Affirming

by pherryt



Series: Old Guard Bingo [2]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Aftermath, Comforting, M/M, Nile's POV, bed sharing, casual attitude towards sex, taking care of each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-02
Updated: 2020-10-02
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:48:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26781652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pherryt/pseuds/pherryt
Summary: In the aftermath of Merrick and Booker and the whole shitshow that had been, the others stick close to each other and Nile can't blame them.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: Old Guard Bingo [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1945972
Comments: 6
Kudos: 122
Collections: The Old Guard Bingo





	Life Affirming

**Author's Note:**

> Another short thing for another Old Guard Square - Bed Sharing  
> thank you to [Childofautumn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/childofautumn/pseuds/childofautumn) for giving it a looksee before posting. Very much appreciated ! :D (even if I still couldn't figure out what to change that one word too)

After Booker and Andy, after Merrick and Copley, after everything that had gone down - the betrayal, the captivity and torture, Andy’s loss of immortality - Nile couldn’t blame the others for being spooked. Joe wouldn’t let Nicky out of his sight, Andy watched them all with an eagle gaze and Nicky hovered over each of them, plying them with food, with blankets, offering books or other entertainment.

Booker, for all that Nile hadn’t known him long, was a gaping hole in the fabric that made up the immortals. Sometimes she’d catch them about to do or say something, looking toward a particular side of the room - she assumed it was a spot Booker had favored, or something - before their faces fell.

Nicky would rub Joe’s shoulders as the laughter died away, Joe's eyes would close to cover the pain and Andy would look away, and a small bottle would appear out of nowhere. Sometimes this sudden shift in the mood would pass quickly, other times it would not, but all in all, they were  _ there  _ for each other in a way Nile had rarely ever seen outside her own family.

It was… Nile wasn’t sure what it was, to be honest. Sweet was inadequate because, while how much each of them cared  _ was  _ sweet, the circumstances were anything but.

If Nile had thought about the logistics of a person living forever - or near enough to count - before she’d met them, she might have assumed that they’d become hard, detached, emotionless. In reality, they were anything but. While they were careful not to form attachments outside of themselves, the depth of their empathy for others and their devotion to  _ each  _ other was hard to miss.

So now they were holed up in one of Andy’s boltholes, filled with all manner of bric-a-brac that would take Nile a while to look through, so she would be kept busy at least. Each day she’d pick a piece, an item and bring it back to the others and ask what stories lay behind it. It became an evening ritual. Most of the stories weren’t any great adventure, but each of them gave her a little more insight to the other three.

The building was old, but beneath the peeling paint and overgrown nature it was quite sound. The furniture was just as old, but sturdy. Here and there were newer, probably replaced as the need had arisen.

What she  _ hadn’t  _ expected were the sleeping arrangements. That Nicky and Joe would share a bed was pretty much a given, but that Andy and Nile would share a  _ room  _ with them too…

Well, she chalked that up to how vulnerable they were all feeling right now, how they kept having to check in on each other. It’d probably lighten up after a while. What Nile found  _ really  _ surprising was how much she really wasn’t minding. It made her feel a little less lonely.

This particular morning, she was still lazily lounging about in the bed she’d been sharing with Andy. Andy was a surprisingly deep sleeper - as long as there wasn’t any danger (Andy seemed to have a sixth sense for when it truly merited being woken and when it didn’t) when Nile became aware of the whispers from a few feet away.

Joe any Nicky also still lay in bed, Joe spooning Nicky as was their usual arrangement. Joe was  _ very  _ protective of Nicky, even in his sleep, though they were  _ both  _ more than capable of both defending themselves and coming back to life if they didn’t.

It was adorably, disgustingly sweet. Nile sometimes thought she’d get cavities just looking at them. But it was also so endearing. She wondered if there was any chance she might have something like that, or if she’d be like Andy, or Booker. 

Her eyes stared without really seeing as she had these sleepy thoughts. It was warm enough out that a light blanket was all they needed, and it had slipped in the night to reveal Nicky’s chest, his shirt slightly rucked up and his and Joe’s hands clasped over his heart. Joe had leaned up and over slightly, whispering in a polyglot of languages she didn't know but was starting to tug familiarly at her ears all the same. Joe’s other arm slipped down to pull the blanket higher, even as he kissed Nicky's neck, Nicky turning to catch his lips.

“Man, they’re so disgustingly sweet,” Nile said in awe, looking away as Andy entered, a coffee in one hand as she rummaged about looking for… something, who knew what.. “How they can be so in love with each other after  _ centuries  _ together - it’s… it’s amazing. And pretty inspiring, actually.”

Without even flicking a glance at the couple, Andy took a sip of her coffee, pulling open a drawer and retrieving a small book with a look of triumph. Then, so nonchalantly that Nile coudlnt quit process the words at first, Andy said, “They’re fucking, Nile.”

Eyes going wide, Niles head jerked back towards the other bed without her permission. She looked at them in a new light, seeing the slow, steady movement of the blankets over their lower bodies, hearing the heated tones of Joe’s words and the breathlessness of Nicky as their lips grazed now more than actually kissed.

Nile squeaked, going warm, and leapt up from the bed, scrambling to leave the room. “Oh my  _ god!” _

Andy followed after her, chuckling. “You’ll get used to it. They’re pretty incorrigible. Want some coffee?”

Nile just stared at her, at how unbothered Andy was by this and wondered if it was a cultural thing or an age thing? Or maybe a bit of both, actually. How much had the peoples of the world  _ changed  _ over the centuries? Oh, the insights the academic world would gain if Andy, Joe or Nicky ever published a book (or a series of books).

Also, hadn’t she read somewhere once that sex could be a life affirming act, and after the scares they had so recently, Nile was now surprised the two  _ hadn’t _ been fucking like bunnies already.

“With or without fortification?” she asked. 

Andy just smirked, handing her a mug. “What do  _ you  _ think?”

A loud groan echoed into the room and Nile accepted the mug. “I think it’s 5 o’clock somewhere.”


End file.
